Record “Highest” Number of Foreign Workers… “Low Degree” Foreign Workers, Not “High Degree” Foreign Workers Real Report
It is the antithesis of the foreign human resources that the country welcomes.”
Japan is becoming increasingly dependent on foreign workers as its labor shortage worsens due to its declining birthrate and aging population.
According to the “Report on Employment of Foreign Nationals” (as of the end of October ’24) released by the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare in January of this year, the number of foreign workers in Japan exceeded 2.3 million, a record high. The ratio of foreign workers to all employees has reached approximately 3.8%.
Japanese society can no longer stand without foreign workers. It is precisely because of this situation that there is a book that you should read. It is a deep reportage on the real picture of foreign workers, “‘Low-degree’ Foreign Human Resources: Immigrants and the Baked Field Nation, Japan” (Kadokawa Shinsho), which was released in April this year. The author is Mine-toshi Yasuda, a reportage writer who won the Oya Soichi Nonfiction Prize in 1919.
In the “Introduction” of this book, Mr. Yasuda makes the following point.
The discourse on foreign workers is often stereotyped, either sympathizing with them as poor people to be exploited, or insisting that they be “kicked out” with an exclusionist mindset. However, they are neither absolutely weak nor villainous. The main players in the recent controversial issues of foreign workers and immigrants are, for better or worse, human beings.
True to his words, there are no foreign workers in this book who fit the stereotype. Yasuda’s flat, colorless depiction of the realities of foreign workers, who, because they are “human beings,” are at times humane and unique, and at other times angry and appalled.
The title “‘Low-degree’ foreign human resources” is a bit provocative. This is a term coined by Mr. Yasuda, but what kind of thought went into the title? We began by asking him this question.
It is the antithesis of the term “highly skilled foreign human resources” used by the government, JETRO (Japan External Trade Organization), and other public organizations,” Yasuda said.
What kind of foreign nationals does the government consider “highly skilled foreign human resources”? The Immigration and Immigration Control Agency’s website explains it best.
They are people who have a proven track record in fields such as “academic research,” “professional/technical expertise,” and “management/administration,” have a high academic background and income, and are expected to bring innovation to Japanese industry and contribute to the country’s economic growth. This is the image of foreign human resources that the Japanese government has stated should be “proactively accepted.
The majority of foreign workers in Japan do not fall into the category of “high-level” human resources welcomed by the government. Moreover, Japanese society is highly dependent on and in need of foreign human resources who do not belong to the “high-level” category.
If this is the case, what name should be given to the majority of foreigners living in Japan?If there are “high-level” human resources, there must also be “low-level” human resources with the exact opposite attributes. With this in mind, we adopted this title.
So, what is the definition of “low-degree foreign human resources”? The government’s explanation is a bit of a stretch, but it could be summarized as “people with low educational backgrounds and annual incomes, with no specialized knowledge or special skills, and who are engaged in simple labor.
Ironically, Japan’s manufacturing and construction industries, agriculture and fishing industries, nursing care facilities, convenience stores, and beef bowl stores are all forced to rely on foreign workers who do not meet the government’s human resource requirements. The title of the book, “‘Low-degree’ Foreign Human Resources,” may be said to raise questions about the contradictions in Japan’s foreign worker policy and the discrepancy between the pretense and the reality.
I had the feeling that ‘I don’t want to see more foreigners like this in Japan.
In fact, this book is a new edition of a book published in 2009 with additions and revisions. The book contains reports on “human resources from low-lying countries” interviewed in the period before the new COVID-19 crisis in 2006, in the midst of the COVID-19 crisis in 2008, and in the post-COVID-19 crisis period from 2010 to 2012.
I tend to write about my subjects too early, before they become the talk of the town, ” he said. This book was no exception. When I was writing the book in2008, I was the only one who was following the issue of Vietnamese living in Japan, and the media had hardly reacted at all. Especially when it came to “bodhoys,” Vietnamese who were in Japan illegally or working illegally, even the police were not accustomed to handling them.
In ’20, I had the feeling that ‘I don’t want to see more of these foreigners in Japan,’ or ‘We’re going to be in trouble for sure. The frustration, bewilderment, discomfort, and discomfort I felt at the time are thickly expressed in “Low-degree” Foreign Talent.
Later, as I saw many examples, I became accustomed to it and some of my senses were numbed, but I feel that the problematic awareness I had five years ago is now better understood in today’s society. So I think the new book comes at a good time.”
In this book, he also reveals. I was originally quite open to accepting immigrants,” he says, “and since my job requires me to travel overseas frequently, I am quite familiar with different cultures compared to the average Japanese person,” but in the course of interviewing “low-degree foreign nationals,” he “became uncomfortable.
What kind of people are we talking about?
For example, a Vietnamese woman who is a former technical intern trainee who hopes to settle in Japan with her child, relying on the support of others and with an easygoing and lazy attitude, a Vietnamese couple who are fake foreign students who aim to live in Japan forever without any intention to learn Japanese properly or to actively fit in Japanese society, and a Vietnamese man who is a technical intern trainee who has no idea what the technical internship system is. A Chinese woman who came to Japan under the mistaken impression that she was on a working holiday, not knowing what the technical internship system was …….
Yasuda, originally a writer specializing in Greater China, began following the current situation of Vietnamese living in Japan at the end of 2005. She points out that Vietnamese technical intern trainees, fake foreign students, and illegal aliens can be surprisingly lazy, become illegal aliens of their own volition, or turn to the side of exploiting their fellow countrymen. When one begins to investigate their problems, he writes, “one is often confronted with a situation in which not only the technical intern trainees themselves, but also the Vietnamese sending organizations, Japanese supervisory organizations, and employers, all of whom are ‘assholes.
The so-called “low-quality foreign human resources” are often haphazard in their decisions because they lack the information to scrutinize conditions, and they are half deceived by local brokers when they come to work in Japan’s regions. Then, when they arrive, the conditions are not the same, so they run away from the technical internship place after seeing the lure of “high income” and “high compensation” on SNS, and do something like a black market part-time job.
The positions used to be filled by Chinese people.’ In the ’90s, people from Fujian were doing crazy things. Butsince the mid-’10s, as the Chinese have become richer, the position bearers have been replaced by Vietnamese.”
Highly skilled foreigners employing Japanese workers in Japan…it’s already happening in reality.”
In 2004, the number of foreign technical interns by nationality surpassed that of the Chinese, and Vietnamese became the largest group in Japan.
” I interviewed the Vietnamese in this book in’20, in theearly days of theCOVID-19crisis. They were impoverished because their training placements were so bad that they had to flee but could not find another job, and they had to become bodhoys and do bad things to eat. However, at that time there were many crimes that did not harm people, such as stealing pigs, chickens, and fruit.
After the corona, though, the majority of bodoys committed crimes with a mind to ‘do it. During the COVID-19 crisis, they were just stealing pigs without thinking, but now there are more smart crimes and they are stealing things that clearly have a high cash value.”
Recently, however, the bearers of the “low-degree foreigner” position are being replaced by Cambodians from Vietnam.
Contrary to Japan, Vietnam’s economy is growing. The financial advantages of Vietnamese coming to Japan to work are diminishing. The wage level has declined, which means that only Cambodians are coming to Japan to work as low-grade foreign human resources.
Japan’s foreign labor system will probably remain the same. After all, when the Chinese stop coming, they will bring in Vietnamese, then Vietnamese, then Cambodians, and so on, and then ‘low-income human resources’ from countries poorer than Japan.
As Japan becomes poorer, Vietnamese and Cambodians will be reduced in number from the Japanese workforce, just as Chinese workers have been.
On the other hand, “high-level” foreign human resources may come to employ “low-level” Japanese workers. Will such an era ever come?
It is already happening. The trend of foreigners hiring Japanese workers in Japan will continue in the future.
It is not only large global corporations. Niseko is seeing an influx of Chinese companies, special scams and black market jobs with foreigners on top ……. Japan is already facing a situation that must be recognized as “this is reality.
Mine-toshi Yasuda is a reportage writer and a visiting researcher at the Institute for Research in Humanities, Ritsumeikan University. After graduating from the Faculty of Letters at Ritsumeikan University, he completed a master’s degree at the Graduate School of Letters, Hiroshima University. He made his debut in 2010 with “The True Feelings of the Chinese People” (Kodansha). He won the Shiroyama Saburo Prize in 2006 and the Oya Soichi Nonfiction Prize in 2007 for “Hakku64” (KADOKAWA). He has also written many other books, including “Ethnicity ga eriwa shita chugoku ga eriwa: Teikoku-ka suru daigoku no jitsu-zo” (Understanding Ethnicity, Understanding China: The Realities of an Empire) (Chuko Shinsho Rakure), “Chugoku giraita no tame no chugoku-shi” (PHP Shinsho), and “Kita-kanto ‘Migrant’ Underground: The Youth and Crime of Vietnamese Illegal Immigrants” (Bungeishunju).
Interview and text by： Sayuri Saito PHOTO： Afro
